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Matthew 1:18 (She was Found with Child Through the Holy Spirit)

Charlie Garrett Gospel (written), Matthew, Matthew (written), Moments, Other, Sermons, Special / Holiday, Special / Holiday (Written), Writings 0 Comment

Matthew 1:18
She Was Found with Child Through the Holy Spirit

As we celebrate this day, just as we do each year, let us remember that it isn’t a day which is founded on myths or superstitions. It may have devolved into that for most of the world, but that was never its original intent.

It has become common for people to find fault in all the assorted things we do at Christmas. We put up pine trees, and someone finds fault in the symbolism. We hang up ornaments, and someone finds fault in our doing so. Even the word “Christmas” is there for people to find fault in.

And it is true, that we should never let these customs and traditions obscure our vision of what this day actually symbolizes, but even the fault finders are to be found at fault over that. The day has real significance, and it has the greatest of importance. And so, whether traditionalist or fault-finder, most of us have never understood the true connection to the meaning of the 25th of December.

It is, in fact, the day that Christ was born, but not in the sense that most people understand. People in Korea would, but for most of the rest of the world, there is little comprehension of the day’s meaning.

You see, Korean people reckon the span of their lives differently than we do. When you ask how old they are, they will tell you an age that is different than what we are used to. I was born on 18 August 1964, and so I would be, as of today, 52 years, 4 months, and a couple of days old.

But a Korean would tell you they were 53 years old. The reason for this is that they reckon life from conception, not birth out of the womb. To the liberal left in the western world, that thought would be utterly scandalous. How can you justify killing someone in the womb if their life had actually already begun. The horror of the thought for them would certainly drive their bloodthirsty minds to madness!

But this is when life begins, whether the left likes that or not. The Koreans got it right. It is a moment to celebrate and to cherish. It is a time of light and happiness. It is the beginning of the time of our life. Our text verse today is Isaiah 7:14 –

Text Verse: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Seven hundred years before the coming of Christ, Isaiah said that something unimaginable would occur. A virgin would conceive and bear a Son. The two things are separate and yet complementary events. First she would conceive, and then she would have a Son. One follows logically after the other.

But in the normal course of events, the first would be impossible. A virgin simply cannot get pregnant. People argue over the Hebrew word that Isaiah used which we translate as “virgin,” claiming that it doesn’t necessarily have to mean “virgin.”

However, the context necessarily demands it, the Greek translation of the Old Testament supports that fact, and Matthew’s use of a word which can only mean “virgin” settles it. The virgin would become pregnant, and the Child would be called Immanuel – God with Us. The verse itself then tells us when life begins. It is not as the child leaves the womb, but when the womb is impregnated. The word “virgin” explains the matter.

As Isaiah wrote, he may or may not have had any idea what he was writing, but if he did, his mind surely went back to the first pages of the Bible where a promised Deliverer would come who was the Seed of the woman. When speaking of genealogies, it is always the seed of man which is referred to. But in Genesis 3, it is the Seed of the woman.

Whether Isaiah realized the importance of the words he penned or not, we can and should realize them. We who have the whole story penned out for us can see the whole picture. It is a picture clearly revealed in His superior word. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Spark of Life

Much has been said of both the Deity and the Humanity of Jesus Christ – on both sides of the debate. There are those who believe that He is fully God and fully Man. There are those who believe He is God, but was never really a Man. There are those who believe He is a Man, but is not God. There are those who believe He is not God and that even His manhood is just a made up fable – in other words, He never even existed. And then there are those who just don’t care.

Within those views, there are more divisions – He was both a Man and God for a spell, but now is only God; He became God after being only a Man; and so, on and so on. And yet, if we take the Bible simply and at face value, even from the few words of the one verse which comprises the sermon’s title, we can really only come to one conclusion. Matthew 1:18 says

εὑρέθη ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου –
heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou
“She was discovered in womb holding from Spirit Holy.”

Two things must be admitted here from a simple reading of the Bible. One is that Mary is a human and this Child is the product of her womb, and thus this Child is a human being. The second is that the Holy Spirit is not a human.

If one then accepts the obvious interpretation of Scripture which shows that the Holy Spirit is God, then the Child is the product of God. There is no human father, and it is the seed of the father that determines lineage in the Bible, thus this Child is Deity – He is the Son of God.

Of course, there are those who will do anything possible to diminish the Deity of the Holy Spirit because by doing so they can then tear apart the central message of the Bible. However, this stupidly-argued premise is for a debate which is unnecessary here. The Holy Spirit, in both testaments of the Bible, is clearly defined as God and is easily defended as such, and so we will overlook that as unnecessary here.

What we have in these few words, which are so quickly passed over by our eyes and our minds, is a description of the most incredible occurrence which has ever come to pass – in all of time. Not just in human history, but in all of time itself. The very creation of the universe pales in comparison to what is described by the words heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou – “She was found with Child through the Holy Spirit.”

When God created, He created not out of Himself – ex Deo, or “out of God.” God is Spirit and is not limited to that which is created. Rather, when He created, it was ex nihilo or “out of nothing.” The psalms say –

“For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9

There was nothing. No time, no space, no matter – only God. And by the power of the spoken word, there was then something. Time began, matter stood firm, and space filled the void – both around matter and within it. Everything that we see, even to the farthest reaches of the universe, came into existence at that one moment. It is an incredible thing to contemplate, but it was of far less moment than the enormity of what occurred in the womb of Mary.

In a flash as brief as the utterance of the word of creation itself, life – the true Life of all things – sprung into existence in her womb. And yet, it was life that always existed, even before the creation of our physical realm! What a paradox, and yet what an event of the greatest marvel of all. God had united with His creation in that blessed womb – Christ had come.

Just this past year, in April, it was published that science has discovered that at the very moment of conception, a bright flash of life marks this incredible event. There is darkness in the womb, and then there is a flash of light. For Mary, there was darkness in her womb, and then there was the Light. The Light of the world had come. God stepped into our darkness and revealed Himself!. Imagine it – try to get your mind around that.

That which brought all things into existence by a mere utterance… the light of ten trillions sons, and the light of the candle on the Christmas tree, even the light of the phosphorous creatures of the deepest oceans… and all other lights that our eyes will ever behold – even for infinite days ahead – these combined are not as bright as the Light which created them… this same Light sparked in the womb of Mary. heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou – “She was found with Child through the Holy Spirit.” The Christmas Child had come.

Who can believe such a thing! Who could have imagined it in times past, and who can grasp it now that it has happened! And yet the words testify to the event. The Light has come in a form that we can experience, feel, interact with, and rely upon. In this Light, there is no darkness, and thus there is no fear.

This marvelous event is that which occurred on that cold December day in the land of Israel. We celebrate the 25th of December as the day of Christ’s birth, and it is. It is just not the birth out of the womb. Rather, the Bible points to this date as the birth within the womb.

And not without significance, this is the same time of year that the Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukah, is celebrated. At times, the two events occur on the same day. Such is the case this year. This is probably what occurred that year as well. The Light of the world came into the world on that same Festival of Lights. This day is mentioned in the book of John, chapter 10, and the 22nd verse, where it is known as the Feast of Dedication –

“Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”

It got its name from the time of the Maccabees when the temple which had been defiled was cleansed and restored to proper worship. Because of this great event, it was memorialized and held annually. A later tradition concerning a day’s worth of oil lasting eight days is merely a fable recorded in the Talmud. But Flavius Josephus tells us the reason for the annual event –

“I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival.”

The Jewish people had been given a liberty beyond their hopes, a light which shone for them that God still favored them. How much more then is the fulfillment of this marvelous picture to be found in the Light which came to provide a liberty never before dreamed of.

The true temple of God, pure and undefiled, was prepared in a human body. The defiled temple which had existed from the time of Adam was, once again, made acceptable to God and for His service. This then was to be a liberty not from human rule and oppression, but that of freedom from the spiritual forces which have waged war on humanity since its very beginning.

This Light stepped into His creation in order to restore all that had gone astray. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied over his own son concerning this Light which would accomplish these marvelous things –

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:76-79

The Light was coming and John would be there to proclaim that fact, preparing the way for Israel to meet the promised Messiah. And Zechariah’s prophecy was one which built upon the words of Isaiah, pronounced 700 years earlier –

Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian.
5 For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:1-7

What a marvel occurred in the dark recesses of the virgin womb! The Deliverer had come to deliver! The Light of the world had come as God’s divine Beacon to rescue man from himself. The Lord God Almighty had condescended to come and dwell among us. heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou – “She was found with Child through the Holy Spirit.” Christmas had arrived.

In darkness I groped, darkness of the deepest night
Looking for life that would last, but it could not be found
But then came the most marvelous Light
And with it came the heavenly chorus, a glorious sound

Through the tender mercy of our God
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us
There is now light on the path that we trod
The everlasting light of our Lord Jesus

Now there is a new hope for us, a hope eternal
To those who sit in darkness, and in death’s shadow
There is salvation from hell’s pit so infernal
There is from the Lamp of God, Christ’s eternal glow

II. Darkness and Light

The Christmas story fills our minds with wonderful pictures of days past. We revel in this time of year each year. We smell the scent of pine, we rejoice in food which fills our taste buds. The weather has returned to where it was, just twelve months before. These things delight our minds with memories of past days when we smell the same smells, taste the same tastes, and feel the same cool chill upon our necks.

It is a time to remember, and a time to make new memories. But it is a time that we should also reflect upon why we celebrate. In reality, and without the holiday, for many it is the bleakest time of the year. The nights are at their longest, painful cold has settled in, and the winter of our despair has come.

Many don’t survive the ordeal, and the true winter of eternity’s darkness arrives to claim their weary soul. God chose this unfavorable time of gloom to give us the greatest hope of all. What manner of love is it that would impel Him to do what He did? What is it about man that God takes notice of Him?

From our perspective… Oh boy, the answer is easy. “I am ME! This is MY life.” Just like the wolf whose leg is caught in a trap will chew that leg off in order to survive, we will do anything to survive and to keep on living. It is the eternal dream of man to just keep on living. Novels are written about it; movies are made about it. It is our desire to… just keep on living.

But if we try to look at things from God’s perspective, it all is so hard to figure. What on earth is of value in that mass of organisms which are nothing but rebellious, self-consumed, and hopelessly arrogant beings? We walk around in the darkness looking for anything to fill our brief existence with pleasure – going from darkness to darkness.

Maybe that’s it though. Maybe it’s because we are in darkness that we choose the darkness. No, wait… no that can’t be it. Adam was surrounded by light and yet he chose the darkness. Only after making the choice did he want the light once again. He did want it.

That must be it then, without knowing one from the other we can’t know which we want. That must be why God allowed it all to happen, and then to step in and give us a choice as to which we would choose. Surely that is it.

The Light of the world came to show us a contrast. We can choose the Light, or we can revel in the dark. The choice is ours. And sure enough, this is what the Light Himself said. In John 3, while talking at night with Nicodemus, Jesus said to him, and thus to us –

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:18-21

The distinction can be seen, the choice must be made, and all will pursue only one of two paths – towards the Light or remaining in darkness. This then is the reason for the Christmas story. It is the reason for the otherwise unimaginable thing which God has done. He has come to give us Light, if we will but just choose it.

We are here today to worship the King of the Universe, the manifestation of the unseen Father in human flesh, to behold the marvel of the Light which shines forth for us and which came to us in the most astonishing way of all. heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou – “She was found with Child through the Holy Spirit.”

God created all things out of nothing. He created something separate from Himself and yet which is contained within His omnipresence. And then He joined together with that which He created – all for the sake of frail, fallible, rebellious beings who otherwise had no hope at all.

In that stupendously marvelous act, He has given us a choice. We can continue on in the darkness, or we can come to the Light. There is no tunnel of light for us to choose after death – I’m sorry, it doesn’t work that way. There is only continued darkness which will span eternal ages. But there is a Light which we can come to now, and in so doing we are surrounded with Light which shall never end, no nor even fade.

God did this thing for us, for you. The perfection of Jesus Christ is seen from His moment of conception, through His birth in a lowly manger, in each step He ever took, and in each word He ever spoke. The perfection of Jesus Christ is seen in His torturous death on a wooden cross, and it is seen in the resurrection which came just days later.

The Child in the womb, the Baby in the manger, the Teacher on the mountain, the lifeless Body on the cross, and the Man standing victorious over death itself all speak of a wisdom and a love which spans the eons of time and the length and breadth of the universe itself. All things make sense when we ponder what God has done, and which started in the sudden flash of Light in the womb of Mary. heurethe en gastri ekhousa ek pneumatos agiou – “She was found with Child through the Holy Spirit.”

Praise God for Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise God for His infinite love, poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Lord. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Closing Verse: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:1-4

Next Week: Exodus 40:1-16 Paths, and Lights, and even Lambs… (Seven I Am’s) (104th Exodus Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. Even if the world around you seems dark, there is the Light of Christ to guide you back to your heavenly Father. So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Light of the World

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows:
After the betrothal of His mother Mary had come around
Before they came together
She was with Child of the Holy Spirit found

Then Joseph her husband
Being a just man, righteousness he did display
And not wanting to make her a public example
Was minded to put her secretly away

But while he thought about these things
Behold, an angel of the Lord
Appeared to him in a dream, saying
This he did say, his spoken word

“Joseph, son of David
Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife
For that which is conceived in her
Is of the Holy Spirit; the Divine spark of Life

And she will bring forth a Son
And you shall call His name Jesus
For He will save His people from their sins
He is God’s Christmas Child; holy and marvelous

And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, I know that you agree
You are little among the thousands of Judah, it is so
Yet out of you shall come forth even unto Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel, My word is true you know

His goings forth are from of old
From everlasting, thus you have been told

Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon
Her who is distressed or in agony
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali

And afterward more heavily oppressed her
By the way of the sea
Beyond the Jordan it shall occur
In an area of the Gentiles around the land of Galilee

The people who walked in darkness
It is they who have seen a great Light
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death
Upon them has shined a light so bright

You have multiplied the nation
And likewise its joy you have increased
They rejoice before You with great ovation
According to the time of harvest, a joy which will not be ceased

As men rejoice when they divide the spoil
When they receive the bounty and no longer toil

For You have the yoke of his burden broken
And the staff of his shoulder is taken away
The rod of his oppressor no longer an unfriendly token
As in the time of Midian, when he was destroyed that day

For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle
And garments roooooolled in blood
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire, worthless chattel
Useless implements overtaken by time’s great flood

Praise God O Israel, For unto us a Child is born
Praise the Lord Land of Judah, For u nto us a Son is given
And the government shall upon His shoulder be worn
And through Him shall man’s sins be forgiven

And His name will be called Wonderful
The Counselor and Mighty God is He
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, pure and white as wool
Of the increase of His government and peace no end shall we see

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom’s realm
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever, He at the helm
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this

The scepter shall not depart from Judah
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet
Until Shiloh comes and we shout Hallelujah
And to Him the obedience of the people shall be sweet

This helpless baby lying in a manger
Will rule the world in everlasting peace
Through Him will come security with no danger
And the rule of His glory shall never, never cease

All praise to our stupendous Lord of glory
Yes, all honor to this precious King
Praising God for the wondrous Christmas story
Let all the Lord’s redeemed shout aloud and sing

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 (The Brevity of Man)

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Ecclesiastes 12:1-14
The Brevity of Man

I take care of a friend’s house down the road from where I live. He’s a great guy who is now 90 years old. One day I asked him “What’s your secret to living so long?” “Simple,” He said. “Keep breathing.” I guess that helps.

The fact is though that life is short. I’ve lost several friends that I grew up with. One day they were there, and the next day they were gone. One of them was a member of this church. On a Saturday, just one year ago, I got a call from her daughter Sarah. “Uncle Charlie, mom died.”

I couldn’t believe it, and I couldn’t process the words. My mind simply went blank. “But, I just got an email from her yesterday. How can this be true?”

As each person that knew her heard the news, they had the same sense of shock. When my mother came to church Sunday morning, she literally broke out in weeping. Her sobs crushed what was left of my already shattered heart. For each of us, our memories of Kelly flooded over us like a tidal wave.

“What was the last thing I said to her? Could I have done more with her or for her? Was I the friend I should have been?” Every one of us had such thoughts. But when the last moment is over, it is over. Life is brief and for all of us, it is a terminal disease. Each one of us will come to that same end someday. It isn’t “if,” but rather “when.”

Text Verse: Man who is born of woman
Is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
He flees like a shadow and does not continue. Job 14:1, 2

Whether we like it or not we’re all getting older… moment by moment, day by day, the clock keeps ticking as our life ebbs away. We race towards the future, looking for what’s ahead and we’re in continuous anticipation about the next big thing. But from time to time, we stop and look back and wonder where the years have gone. Usually we do this on anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

Solomon tells us this is the entirely wrong attitude to have. If you follow his life, this is what he did, but it ended up costing him. He was the richest and wisest man ever to live and yet he misplaced his wisdom.

At the end of his life, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s a hard book to follow unless you understand his premise. He contrasts life under the sun with life under the heavens. He tells us what is and what isn’t meaningful. In the end, nothing under the sun is meaningful. Instead, it’s what is under God’s heaven that has true meaning and purpose.

This is the point of what Solomon is trying to tell us and he sums everything up in chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes. We can take it as an axiom that no person lying on his death bed has ever uttered, “I wish I had worked more hours at my job.” No, when we encounter death, we look at things in an entirely different way.

For many who are blessed with a slow death, they at least get the chance to sort out their life with God. For those who die suddenly, they don’t get that chance. They were either right with Him or they were not. For those who were not, that is the saddest end of all. If you are here today, it’s because you are still alive. Solomon tells you what you need to consider now.

He will open his discourse noting that it is the youth to whom he is speaking. As the oldest man who ever lived, Methuselah, lived to 969 years, I think everyone here qualifies as a youth, at least in regards to him. So Solomon is speaking to you. Pay attention. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this superior word, and so may God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Solomon’s Words to the Young (Verses 1-8)

The beautiful and magnificent words of Ecclesiastes 12 comprise 1482 characters in 339 words of 14 verses in the NKJV, or 754 characters in 162 words if you read the Hebrew text. Solomon was writing to the youth of his time, and the words he wrote echo down through the ages and throughout all generations. He speaks, like Isaiah who would come later also speaks; about priorities –

Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30, 31

But, though Solomon’s words are beautiful, some of them are a bit cryptic, especially verses 1-6. And so let’s take a very brief look at them together and see what he was trying to tell us.

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:

In these opening words of the chapter, Solomon implores his reader to not wait on a relationship with God. Youth, and its many distractions, is still the perfect time to begin – and to strive to perfect – this relationship. With the passing of youth we experience the “difficult days.” They are days of trouble and days of trial.

First, pressures of family and work come up. No sooner are we getting through this phase than we reach the age of physical and mental deterioration. Such days are no longer in the distant future. Instead, they are days which draw near. And in the coming of that time, we say “I have no pleasure in them.”

Life loses the wonder of youth, it loses the joy of things being endlessly new and exciting. Instead, all becomes routine, life gets tedious, and the days tiresome. The alarm clock rings and we rise to do our duty once again. The excitement is gone, but for brief moments which are always too short. From time to time, we might even have the passing thought which the psalmist of old asked –

“How many are the days of Your servant?” Psalm 119:84

The pleasure of youth is gone and in place of it come questions about when life itself will end. Solomon asks us to remember our Creator in our youth, before such days arrive. As I’ve already noted how youthful each of you are, then be advised that he is speaking to you. Whatever your span of life will be, it is set and there isn’t a thing you can do about it. Moses understood this and he wrote something special for you to consider. From the oldest psalm in the Bible, we read these words –

“Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (NIV)

2 While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,

Here Solomon is referring to the loss of vision – macular degeneration, cataracts, and all the other eye problems we experience in this fallen world. I personally started losing my vision some years ago. It seems that every year or so since then, the number on my reader glasses has gotten a little larger.

Eventually, if our sight gets bad enough, the sun and the light, the moon and the stars, and all of the other things we love to see – all of these will simply fade into gray or even black.

But there is another type of blindness that is even worse. It isn’t physical at all. Rather, it is spiritual. It is a blindness we are born with. Jesus spoke of it to the leaders of Israel –

And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41

We have a blindness to our own sinful state. It is so heavy over the eyes of our hearts that we simply refuse to see that it is there. Paul prayed that this blindness would be replaced with clarity of vision. In his letter to the Ephesians, he said this  –

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Ephesians 1:17-21

Children, we are being asked to remember our Creator now, in the days of our youth, before the blindness of eternal darkness once and forever overtakes us.

2 (con’t) And the clouds do not return after the rain;

The Hebrew reads, “And the clouds return after the rain. The “clouds returning after the rain” is a metaphor for continued physical problems constantly returning. As soon as it rains, the clouds begin to form again. It is continuous cycle of getting better only to have the same problem come right back. In the same way, our brains fog over and our thoughts become unclear as we age. Even if we remember something, we forget it again right away.

Before this sad state comes upon us, Solomon implores us to think on the things of God; to make the best possible use of our time. The psalmist of old gives us wonderful words of how we should spend these few moments of our existence –

“When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.” Psalm 63:6

David did just this and he was able to hide God’s word in his heart when he was young. It was a good thing he did, because in his later years, this would have become impossible. He had an affliction of the body which was so debilitating that he could never have directed his thoughts to the things of God unless they were already instilled in him –

“When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.” 1 Kings 1:1

Solomon saw this in his father David and he wrote words for us to consider –

“Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.” Ecclesiastes 11:9, 10

3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,

Here Solomon calls the arms and legs “the keepers of the house.” The arms are what care for us, and the legs are what transport us. They are what keep the house of our souls fed, healthy, mobile, and able to continue functioning. But, as humans, we often tend to get the shakes in these areas with age. Body tremors, neuropathic problems, Parkinson’s, and other ravages of time and age all cause the keepers of the house to tremble.

Solomon asks us to consider our lives now, in our youth, before this happens. It is a sad thought that someone would start seeking God from His word at a time when he can’t even hold a book steady. Rather, the book of Hebrews admonishes us with these words, directed to us now while we still are able –

“Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:12

3 (con’t) And the strong men bow down;

When he says that “strong men bow down” it’s obvious that as we age the ground gets closer to our faces… or is it our faces getting closer to the ground? Our backs hunch over, our knees bow, and these unnatural positions only increase our pains.

And so, I’d ask today that you consider while you have the chance, to strengthen yourself spiritually through Christ so that when your physical body wears out, you have the inner strength of His glorious Spirit to take you through these times of trouble. Two contrasting verses from the psalms will help instruct us in this matter –

“For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones waste away.” Psalm 31:10

“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.” Psalm 146:8

What a different end for those who know God and those who do not. For those in Christ, there is an eternity of strength which awaits them. For the others, there is only an eternity of pain which lies ahead after that life of pain. Remember your Creator now my children.

3 (con’t) When the grinders cease because they are few,

Along with the other problems, Solomon goes on to tell us that our chewing will become more difficult with age due to the loss of our pearly whites! We’re fortunate today to have advanced dental capabilities, but the cost is often so high that we still let some of the missing teeth remain missing. Eventually for some, there is only the prospect of soft foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It was a rare thing in ancient Israel for people to have all their teeth even at a young age. How much worse when they were older! Solomon was impressed that his bride to be had all of her teeth –

“Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep
Which have come up from the washing,
Every one of which bears twins,
And none is barren among them.” Song of Solomon 4:2

His advice to this beautiful young bride would have been to enjoy her beauty, and to enjoy every meal, but also to pursue God while she was still young enough to possess both.

3 (con’t) And those that look through the windows grow dim;

Again, Solomon reminds us of our coming vision problems. The eyes are called the windows to the soul. Eventually, the eyes dim and the food for our soul can no longer be consumed. His advice is that we not get to that point without first remembering our Creator; pondering Him and His goodness in our lives. Some of the greatest of the Bible suffered with vision problems.

Isaac lay in his bed for over forty years because of his blindness. Eli, the high priest of Israel and one of the very few people ever allowed to see the Most Holy objects of Israel’s tabernacle, eventually lost his vision as well. Moses was more fortunate. It says of him at his death –

“Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.” Deuteronomy 34:7

For those who are the redeemed of the Lord, who are willing to follow Him, many promises are made, including promises of sight to the blind –

“I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16

Remember your Creator now before the times of eternal darkness arrive and sight is no longer possible.

4 When the doors are shut in the streets,
And the sound of grinding is low;

The doors of which Solomon speaks are our ears. When we shut the doors to the street outside, we can’t hear what is happening out there. But that is where the joy of life is! The sound of the grinding speaks of women sitting at the millstones, chatting like birds and grinding out the grain for the evening meal.

It would have been the most common and delightful sound of all. Every Israelite would cherish the memories of such times. To not hear more of them would have been worse than almost anything else.

Likewise, the music we love, the voice of our loved ones, and the sounds of life all fade with age. With our bad eyes, we can’t read the Bible, and with our bad ears, we can’t even hear an audio Bible. Solomon would ask us to consider our Creator now, before such evil days steal away our chance to know Him intimately.

For those who know their Lord, He can and will cause the deaf to hear. Mark wrote about the marvelous work of Christ there on the dusty streets of Israel –

“Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:32-37

Christ does all things well because He is the God/Man. He is the One who promised restoration of all things, and through Him all things will be restored. Solomon finishes this verse with this thought –

4 (con’t) When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
And all the daughters of music are brought low.

Man tends to wake up earlier as he ages – with or without alarm clocks. The “daughters of music” are the morning birds which sing their joyous songs. But despite their marvelous sounds, there’s a big problem… We may be up early as they sing out their delightful tunes, but we can’t hear them because our hearing is shot! The daughters of music are brought low; their joyous whistling becomes nothing more than a dull sound to our deadened ears.

And there is also another type of deafness which man faces. It is the inability to hear the word of God as it speaks to his soul. The Lord told the prophet Isaiah to proclaim this to the people –

“Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.” Isaiah 6:9-10

The people of Isaiah’s time are the same as people today. We refuse to listen, we refuse to heed, and we refuse to turn and be healed. The musical notes of the words of Scripture are brought low to our deadened sense. Oh God, if we would just open our hearts, you would fill our ears with sound and our eyes with light –

“So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?”  Exodus 4:11

5 Also they are afraid of height,

The young are afraid of nothing. Heights are a challenge to be overcome. But to the elderly, even a small step ladder could mean a broken hip. High places begin to terrify and the ground is a safe haven from the terrifying heights. But even the old who know the Lord, who cherished their Creator in the days of their youth, are able to rise to the highest of heights to grant Him His just due –

“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!” Psalm 148:1

5 (cont) And of terrors in the way;

What once was something we laughed off without a care, later becomes that which terrifies us most. When we were young, we would go to the store without a second thought, but with age comes fear – “Will someone attack me if I go out?” “Those young ruffians on the corner sure look bent on evil.” “What if the car breaks down on the highway?”

Things that never caused us a moment of concern eventually fill us with dread. Age has worn us down and we can no longer look out for ourselves as we once did. Like a lazy person, we soon find excuses to not go out at all –

“The lazy man says, ‘There is a lion outside!
I shall be slain in the streets!’” Proverbs 22:13

But for those who fear the Lord in reverence, there is no dread of what man, demon, or devil can do –

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

5 (cont) When the almond tree blossoms,

When it’s in full bloom, the almond tree is covered with white blossoms. Solomon uses it as a metaphor for the head of the aged. Where there was once raven black, there is now a beautiful gray. Where blond curls were, there is now shiny silver. Solomon is being poetic and striking about the head of the aged. My beard was once a nice brown color, now it has assumed another look.

In the proverbs, Solomon says that for those who took the time to know their Creator in their youth, the blossoming almond tree bears a special honor –

“The silver-haired head is a crown of glory,
If it is found in the way of righteousness.” Proverbs 16:31

And in Isaiah, the Lord promises His people that this mark of the aged is no hindrance to His power –

“Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:4

5 (cont) The grasshopper is a burden,

God created the grasshopper just as he created mosquitoes. For the aged, both are troubling. In the case of the grasshopper, even though their ears have trouble hearing the sound of the birds, the grasshopper’s song at night is as clear as crystal because of its peculiar pitch, even someone practically deaf can hear it.

And it never seems to end as you lie in bed with your old bones, wishing it were morning! The grasshopper drags himself along, robbing the aged of the little sleep that they try to get. Remember your Creator now… in the time of your youth, before such terrible times come.

5 (cont) And desire fails.

What was once delightful becomes bland. What once stirred the soul eventually becomes wearisome. Work loses its joy; the desires of life fade. The anticipation of the caress of another is replaced with the desire to just get a bit more sleep. Ouch! That’s all I can say! In this regard, Moses was a blessed exception –

“Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.” Deuteronomy 34:7

The Hebrew of this verse tells us that Moses didn’t need Viagra. But for the majority of us, as age advances, our desires fail and the joys of youth are gone. Remember your Creator now, in the days of your youth, young man.

5 (cont) For man goes to his eternal home,

The eternal home; the resting place for all souls. The KJV calls it the “long home.” And we will be there a long, long time. For us, there awaits a box in the ground, a fancy pine overcoat – longer than it is wide.

5 (cont) And the mourners go about the streets.

In the time of Solomon, and even through the time of Jesus, professional mourners were employed to stand outside homes of people who died.  If you were wealthy, you’d have lots of them, but whatever… the job could only mean one thing. Death had arrived and claimed another soul. The eternally hungry pit was fed once again and the sound of a person, unique from any other in all of human history, had been forever silenced.

Solomon asks us to consider this end, for it is one we will all share in. For those who are wise, there is to be relief from this pit – if… if we will just remember our Creator before the sickle comes to reap the sheaf of our life. In Christ there is hope –

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25, 26

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,

Once again, Solomon implores us to remember Him – the one who loves us, who created us, who came to die for us. Before we know it, something will go wrong with our jar of clay – our human shell – and it will be too late. The silver cord is the spine and its marrow. Its loosening causes a stopping of all the nervous system and brings on the approach of old age and death. Or, if it gets cut unnaturally, death can be much, much quicker. Remember Him now, before your silver cord is loosed.

6 (con’t) Or the golden bowl is broken,

The golden bowl is our head and its contents (or the lack thereof.) If it gets broken, or the brain pops a vessel, we’re on our way to the checkout counter. Our ticket is punched. I’ve known several people who died from head injuries – some from motorcycles, one more recently from a brain hemorrhage. To think of them is to miss them.

Even with modern medicine, once the golden bowl is broken, that’s pretty much it. Solomon would have us use our head now in the pursuit of God, while it can still be used for such a magnificent pursuit. There are brains there, but is there wisdom to use them?

6 (con’t) Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,

The pitcher is that great vein which carries blood to the right ventricle of the heart – here called the fountain. The pitcher pours, the fountain receives, life continues on with each pump of the muscle. [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []. But the pump is known to fault, the vein is known to shatter, and the fountain no longer receives the lifeblood of the man [] [] [] [] [] ………

6 (con’t) Or the wheel broken at the well.

The wheel is that great artery which receives blood from the left ventricle of the heart – here designated as the well. Modern science has the capacity to repair these things to some extent, but eventually they will wear out, unless something else goes first, When the wheel is broken, the cowboy has had his last roundup; the surfer has tucked into his last tube, and the mason has laid his last brick. Remember the Creator now, while the work of your hands remains an active task and not a forgotten memory.

Of verse 6, I’d like to tell you a story. I used to sit on the beach with a sign that said, “Bible Questions Answered; Don’t Be Shy!” One day a doctor from Pennsylvania walked up and asked a few questions. He went to church, but he figured all religions were the same. He was up for Buddhism and other New Agey things too.

Eventually, he asked some question or another, and I took him to this verse. I showed him Solomon’s words about the heart which are written here. He turned whiter than he already was and mumbled out, “How could he know this? How could Solomon have known this 2700 years ago?” That doctor went away a changed man with a new appreciation for the word of God.

7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

These words find their origin in the very first pages of the Bible. It is an echo of what God did to Adam –

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7

From the dust we arose at the work of the Lord. By His breath, the dust was animated. The blood began to flow, air filled the lungs; the senses came alive. By His wisdom, it came to be. But by our folly, what was meant to last forever in pristine running condition, became a confining prison, filled with pains, sadness, and decay. The man forgot his Creator and man has suffered ever since –

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

But through Christ, a new body is promised, one that will never wear out, never tire, never decay. God has spoken; the second shall replace the first –

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 1 Corinthians 15:46-49

We are given a choice. Will we stay in Adam and face eternal decay, or will we choose God’s work in Christ and receive eternal life? How will you choose? Choose wisely, my children.

7 (con’t) And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Yes, we are eternal beings. Scripture makes it clear that our spirit will return to God. When we meet Him, it will be for eternal salvation or it will be for eternal condemnation. A price must be paid for the life we have lived. It can be paid in the cross of Christ as our perfect Substitute, or it can be paid in our imperfect selves. I pray you make the right choice. The Bible shows a different end for those who are in Christ and those who are not –

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15

8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“All is vanity.”

havel havalim amar ha’qohelet ha’kol havel – “Vapor of vapors says the Kohelet; everything is vapor.” Breath on a cold day. Abel, or Havel, was given his name from a mother who realized the difference between life under the sun and life under the heavens. She longed, desperately, to return to that life under the heavens which she had lost, but it never came about. She’s still waiting, 6000 years later.

Without a doubt, outside of Jesus Christ, it is all meaningless. All our money, all our treasures, hard work, savings, relationships, desires, aims, goals, boastings…all of it – vapor. It will pass away and disappear into the nothingness from which it came. James understood this –

“Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.” James 1:9-11

II. The Conclusion of the Whole Matter (Verses 9-14)

9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs.

The Lord came to Solomon in a dream at night and asked him what he desired. His answer was a wise one indeed –

“Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 1 Kings 3:7-9

The Lord’s response to this request came immediately, and it overflowed with abundance –

“Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 1 Kings 3:11-14

In the next chapter, the fulfillment of the promise is recorded –

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34 And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” 1 Kings 4:29-34

Despite all that he was given though, he piddled his life away with worthless pursuit of life under the sun. In his old age, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes in hopes that we would pay heed to what he had ignored. This life is vain indeed, my son. Look to the eternal; set your eyes on the Lord; and run the race with vigor – all the way to the finish line. Don’t look left; don’t look to the right. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth.

Solomon’s personal life was wasted in the empty pursuit of vapor, but his words were exceedingly wise. In his case, we could rightly state the old adage, “Do as I say, not as I do.” His words were acceptable, even for inclusion in the word of God.

What is made clear here is that knowledge is important, but equally so we need to impart it to others. The knowledge of Christ is their only hope…don’t keep it to yourself. As with everything in the Bible, Solomon says these are “just the right words.”

They are upright and true –
They are the words of your Creator reaching out to you. 

As it says in Hebrews concerning all of Scripture –

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

If this is true, and it is, then the power of the word of God, if properly presented, will cut through all barriers. And the power of the gospel can restore even the greatest sinner. But Paul asks an obvious question in the book of Romans –

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:14, 15

Wisdom is receiving and applying the word of God to one’s life. Exceeding wisdom is turning around and sharing it with others.

11 The words of the wise are like goads,

Goads are prods used to move animals along. In this, Solomon is saying that the words of the wise are what prompt us toward God and an everlasting relationship with Him. And the words of the wise are thus the words of Scripture. They are what prod us towards a good and happy end. The apostle Paul found that kicking against the goads is painful indeed on the day he met the risen Christ –

“And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” Acts 26:14

Are you here today kicking against the goads. You’re only hurting yourself. Christ is calling for you to live at peace with Him, not to fight His marvelous hand until your dying breath. Let the words of Christ be that which drive you to the refuge where the Lord God dwells, and where underneath are the everlasting arms.

11 (con’t) and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails,

A well-driven nail holds fast. It will remain secure in the highest of winds and against the strongest of intruders. The home is safe, the tent stands firm, and the bleachers won’t buckle when the nails are well driven. The words of scholars, wise and learned men who have penned the word of God for us, are like this. They are tested and true. This is why the psalmist could unequivocally state –

“Your word, Lord, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.” Psalm 119:89 (NIV)

Later in the same psalm, he gives us another insight into the nature of the word –

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

A lamp is used to direct light, but light is a constant. It never changes. It travels at 186,282 miles per second… always. The word of God is what directs the light, and the light of the word never changes. The path for our feet will never falter when we place our trust in the contents of the word. Let these well-driven nails be your place of refuge now, while the time is called Today.

11 (con’t) given by one Shepherd.

Who is this one Shepherd? It is Jesus – the eternal Logos; the Word of God. He’s both the Author and the Subject of the Bible. The words He gives us are all we need to properly guide our lives and to lead us into all righteousness. In adhering to His words, we are forever filled –

“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

The Shepherd that David looked on high to is the same Shepherd we eagerly anticipate –

“I am the good shepherd.” John 10:11

He is our Good Shepherd; He is our Great Shepherd; and He is our Chief Shepherd. He is the guide of the flock, and His reward is with Him. His word stands firm, and His promises are true. Remember Him now, little children. Seek Him while He may be found.

12 And further, my son, be admonished by these.

We can seek after wisdom from a thousand cultures and ten thousand wise men, but unless we pursue God as He has revealed Himself to us, the wisdom will fail and our knowledge will die with us. The words of the scholars, which have been given by the One true Shepherd have been provided as the roadmap for our lives. He created us, and therefore He alone can direct us as is fit and proper. Solomon understood this, and his words to you, my children, are as relevant today as they were when he said this. Allow the word of God to admonish you. Demonstrate true wisdom now, while there is time.

12 (con’t) Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

Isn’t this the truth! Imagine, Solomon wrote this almost 3000 years ago. He said even then that there is no end to the making of books at a time in history when hardly any books had been written! Just imagine how overwhelming the sight of a modern library would be for him today.

If we were to count only the books written about the Bible, we would be counting a very long time. I know several people, quite a few in fact, who have read book after book after book about the Bible, but they have spent very little time in comparison simply reading the Bible. What a waste of time.

Before I met the Lord, I read the entire collection of Edgar Allen Poe every year. Since I met Him, I have never read Poe again. And in all honesty, I’d rather go back and read Poe than most of the books that have been written about the Bible. They come and they go. They often enrich the author, but they do very little to enrich the soul. At least Poe could do that. If you want time well spent, the word is waiting. Pick the thing up and read it! If you do, you will be able to fulfill the words of the next verse…

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Oh boy! I can’t wait to hear! Solomon, the wisest man ever to live has some advice for us… for you, my children. Now! While still in your youth. Lean in and listen folks, the word is near you.

13 (con’t) Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.

Truly, it is the whole duty of man – to fear God, to obey His Holy Word, to “…fix our eyes on Jesus…”  And, how do we keep his commandments? First, you have to learn them. Which ones apply still? Which ones are set aside? The commandments of God throughout the ages are many, but not all apply at all times. The ones that do now are neither burdensome, nor are they difficult.

To find this out though, you need to go to the source and read it. Immerse yourself in the Bible. It’s an amazingly deep well. So drink from it daily and then obey it in the context which applies for those who trust in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Solomon says that this is man’s all. There is no thing greater that we as human beings can do than to have a reverential fear of God and to keep the word which He has given to us. Shall we stand approved before Him on that great day? If we adhere to the precepts of the Bible, the answer is “Yes.”

* 14 (fin) For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

A day of reckoning is coming. We will all face it and there is not a thing that we can do about its arrival. We can deny it, we can suppress it, we can… lie to ourselves about it, but that day will come – for each and every soul who has ever existed. On that day, the secrets of our hearts will be exposed and the hidden things will be brought to light.

The old saying, “Nothing is sure but death and taxes” understates the ability of people to finagle their way out of paying taxes. But one thing we can’t cheat is death. We’re all heading to our “long home” and we don’t know the day we will move into it.

The time is coming when we will all stand before God to give an account for ourselves. We will stand and receive judgment based on our words. As Jesus said, “…by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). The words Jesus wants to hear, and the words that justify us are laid out by Paul in Romans 10 –

“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9, 10

Let me explain to you how you can arrive at that point where you ae willing to utter those words…

Closing Verse: “All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24, 25

Next week: Exodus 30:1-10 The symbolism of Christ in these verses is immense (The Altar of Incense) (83rd Exodus Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and a purpose for you. Though life under the sun may be exceedingly sorrowful and tedious, He promises those who trust in Him a glorious future of life under the heavens. So follow Him and trust Him, and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.

The Rapture – Old Testament Types and Shadows

Charlie Garrett Exodus, Genesis, Moments, Old Testament, Other, Ruth, Sermons, Special / Holiday, Torah, Weekly Video , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment

The Rapture – Old Testament Types and Shadows

Charlie Garrett Exodus, Genesis, Old Testament, Ruth, Sermons, Special / Holiday, Torah 0 Comment

The Rapture
Old Testament Types and Shadows

If you have followed along with the Superior Word sermons, then you are fully aware that every single passage of Scripture points to Jesus Christ – His Person and His work. In our journey through Genesis, Ruth, and our continued journey through Exodus, we have seen literally thousands of such types and pictures of Him.

If you haven’t been following along with our sermons, then get on the stick and get to it. Proper theological understanding of the New Testament is pretty much impossible without knowing the Old. This doesn’t mean that the core doctrines of the faith are unattainable without the Old, but it does mean that those core doctrines are likely to be misunderstood without first knowing the context of what has been seen in the Old.

And so it is a shame that so many people run ahead with their theology by either making stuff up out of their own head concerning doctrinal issues, or they have an unbalanced view of those doctrines because they haven’t taken the time to see what God has already shown in type and picture.

This problem results in countless variations of biblical doctrines with proponents of a particular view mis-analyzing verses and coming to faulty conclusions. From their skewed analyses come followers who only further propagate what is clearly wrong.

In reality, then, there is actual harm to what is being relayed in the Bible by evaluating the New Testament verses without considering the pictures from the Old. Solomon tells us this in a unique way with the following words. They are our text verse for this sermon.

Text Verse: “That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9

This isn’t some arbitrary statement meant to confuse the reader of the Bible concerning possible historical patterns. Instead, it is a note from the mind of God to the readers of His word that He repeats things in order for us to see what will happen again. If it is recorded in His word, we can expect the same type of thing to occur again in the process of redemptive history.

As this is so, and as the doctrine of the rapture is accepted by dispensationalists as a valid doctrine, then there must be types and pictures of it in the Old Testament. The question is then, “If it is pictured in the Old Testament, can we determine whether a pre/mid/or post tribulation rapture is defined as well?”

The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Today, we will take a very brief look at four different accounts, all of which point to a pre-tribulation rapture. Two are from Genesis, one is from Exodus, and the final one is from Ruth. We will do this without making unfounded deductions and we will analyze these types in proper context.

It may be that you won’t fully understand what I present. The reason for this is that each of these pictures comes from a greater whole which was laid out in a sequence of sermons. What you might want to do is go back and watch the surrounding sermons if you aren’t clueing in to what is presented.

Question: Why is it that some people who accept that there will be a rapture still adamantly refuse to believe that it will be a pre-tribulation rapture? I believe my friend Richard in New Zealand sums it up rather well –

“I suspect that underlying the anti pre trib rapture movement, there is a deficient understanding of the finished work of the Cross. This idea that we have to go through part of or all of the tribulation seems like a form of protestant purgatory to me. That somehow, by enduring the tribulation horror, adds some kind of merit to the broken body and shed blood of the Savior.” Richard MacGregor, Auckland NZ

He is right. Christ’s work is sufficient, and Christ will not allow His bride to be subjected to this time of wrath to come. She is His precious Jewel, not His punching bag. We will see this today.

Before we get into these things though, it should be noted that the rapture is not some impossible doctrine which should be laughed off by anyone of reason. Rather, it happened twice already in history to individuals. The first was Enoch. His translation is described in Genesis 5:21-24 –

“Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

His translation is further explained in Hebrews 11 –

“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5

The second translation is that of Elijah. His is recorded in 2 Kings –

“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11

Elijah is still alive today and his return is expected before the great and terrible Day of the Lord which is coming. What is most probable is that together, Enoch and Elijah – a Gentile and a Hebrew – will come back as the two witnesses of Revelation. This can be sufficiently determined from several passages of Scripture, but it isn’t relative to the doctrine of the rapture.

However, their translation is. If God can take them up, He can do the same for all of the saints of the church, just as His word says. I hope you enjoy this word from God’s word today, and if you enjoy this sermon but have never watched Superior Word sermons before, then you are only cheating yourself. J

Go back to Genesis 1:1 and start watching. If you watch one a day (like taking your vitamins) you will be caught up in about 1/2 a year. So get started. Great stuff is to be found in His superior word. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Pulled Out of Danger (Genesis 19:9-11)

9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Genesis 19:9-11

Lot was in a pickle. He was a fallible man, but he was also a righteous man. This is seen in the words of Peter in the New Testament –

“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment…” 2 Peter 2:4-9

So we see that despite his failings, he was a righteous man. It is a biblical axiom, however, that righteousness stems not from man, but from God. Therefore, he is used as a picture of those who are in the Lord’s church. They are deemed righteous by God because of the work of Christ. Not because we are inherently righteous. Just look around at those in the church… and go look in the mirror too, and you will see this it true.

Just as Lot was tormented in his righteous soul because of the depravity of the world around him, so should we be tormented at the horrendous depravity around us. The pattern of the past is seen again in today’s cesspool of wickedness. One week’s prophecy update is enough to show anyone with even a modicum of morals that we are ripe for judgment.

For those whose hope is not in this world, we have the same hope of an open door before us as that which John saw so long ago –

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.” Revelation 4:1

John saw a door, and Lot was pulled through a door. Let’s look again at the verses about him and see not only what literally happened to him, but what they are picturing for us.

9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.

This verse is tied to Genesis 19:1 where Lot was noted as being at the city gate. He acted like a judge here because he was probably a judge at the gate. It’s very probable, although not stated, that he was appointed a judge after Abraham defeated the kings of the east. This was an awarded position based on his relationship with his uncle. Whether this is the case or not, he sat in the gates and was noted as an authority.

But the crowd is no longer interested in set authority and has determined to cast it off. They have become so depraved that they rejected his offer of his own daughters in place of the men that had come under the shelter of his roof. The people surrounding Lot’s house are not only perverts, but they have become unreasonably violent by the conduct of their wicked lives. It sounds like our world once again today, doesn’t it.

The translators of the Geneva Bible make this comment about living too close to sin, as Lot is –

“Nothing is more dangerous than to live where sin reigns: for it corrupts all.”

This is a lesson Lot learned the hard way, and it is a lesson that we need to pay attention to in our own lives.

10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

Lot is brought into complete safety, away from the wickedness of the people, and into the presence of the Lord. That the Lord is there isn’t evident yet, but the term used for someone he speaks to later indicates that the Lord is there with him behind the door. Once Lot is pulled in, the door that was open is now shut.

11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

The type of blindness, or as the Hebrew says it “with blindnesses” (it is plural) – is the word ba’sanveriim. It is found in only two accounts in the Old Testament. The other time is in 2 Kings 6:18 –

“So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”

The blindness they experience is a peculiar sort that has much less to do with the eyes than it does with the mind. The heads of the people in Sodom, just like those with Elisha in Dothan, were confused, and their thinking was clouded. It’s a state of blindness which is more mental and spiritual than physical.

We know this because Elisha led the army of Syria all the way from Dothan to Samaria and they followed him. The people of Sodom groped for the door, even though it’s still there… right there… but they can’t find it. In other words, the very thing they’re intent upon finding is the thing they can’t see. It is as if they see a door and they find thorn bush, and when they see a thorn bush, they think it’s a door.

Are you seeing how these verses picture the coming rapture? Let’s stand back and look at the whole scene as if it were the time before Christ’s coming for us and compare what we see with how the Bible describes that glorious day when we are called home.

We saw how Peter describes the wickedness of the world which will receive God’s judgment. In those verses, he told about the righteousness of Lot. The similarity between the state of Sodom and the world which our liberal progressive leaders are rushing us towards is completely evident.

The state that Sodom was in is the state of today’s world. Later in that same epistle, Peter speaks about the destruction of the people he described and about the hope of the believer. Remember these concepts are made in comparison to Sodom before and after its destruction –

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:10-13

In the time of wickedness which preceded destruction, Lot was physically snatched back through the door by the angels and rescued by them from the people’s evil intent. This is exactly how Paul describes our coming rescue in 1 Thessalonians 4 –

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

The word Paul uses for “caught up” there is harpagesometha, or in its more recognizable form harpazo. It means to seize or carry off by force, or to snatch away. This is exactly the picture we were given when the angels in the house seized Lot and pulled him behind the door and into the presence of the Lord.

If you remember, after Lot was pulled to safety, the door was shut and no one could open it. All outside were excluded from safety. Now see how Jesus explains this same concept to the church of Philadelphia and the result of being left out of His safe protection, just as Sodom was –

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,|
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” Revelation 3:7-11

There is an hour of trial coming upon the whole world and the world will be destroyed because of the wickedness of the people. But, we are promised safety from this, just as Lot was. Jesus’ own words promise to keep us out (Greek: ek) “out of” this hour of trial. There is deliverance from it because of our position in Him. Here is how Paul describes it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 –

“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:5-10

We are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Christ. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul explains the timing of this and what will occur after that moment. Listen carefully and see the amazing parallel to what occurred in Sodom.

“Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8

Paul notes that the Restrainer will first be taken out of the way. This is the promise, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, and He is taken and we are not, then that was not a very good guarantee. Rather, God is faithful to keep us safe from the coming tribulation period.

The next thing to notice is that it says in verse 8 that “…then the lawless one will be revealed.” This is speaking of the antichrist. If the antichrist is only revealed after the One who restrains is taken out of the way, then that means we will not know who the antichrist is.

So why watch a lot of nonsense videos that supposedly pinpoint who he is. They have always failed and they will continue to do so because our focus in the church is to be on Christ, not this person.

Further, if the signing of the peace deal with Israel, which is for seven years, is initiated by the antichrist, and if he is revealed after the rapture, and if the seven year peace deal is the seven years of tribulation mentioned in Revelation, all of which are doctrinally correct statements, then this shows with all certainty that the rapture is not post- or mid-tribulation, but pre-tribulation.

The fact that the antichrist is the one who signs the peace deal is succinctly laid out in Daniel 9 –

“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:27

If he “confirms a covenant with many for one week” and only in the middle of the week breaks the treaty, then this is speaking of the entire tribulation period. As we will not know who he is according to 2 Thessalonians 2:8, then this assures us of a pre-tribulation rapture.

And so let’s continue with Lot. He was pulled through the door to safety and only after that were the people given “blindnesses” or sanveriim. Remember how I explained it then. This was a mental or spiritual blindness, not a physical one. This is exactly what Paul says will happen again. Here are the continued words of 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12 –

” And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The world will be given a “strong delusion” so that they will believe the lie. They will look for the door and they will find a thorn bush. They will see a thorn bush and they will think it is the door… In reality, they will search for God and find the antichrist. They will see the antichrist and think he is God.

Further, both the Genesis type and the prophetic fulfillment from Paul’s hand mention the blindnesses as coming after the pulling to safety, not before. It is another indication of a pre-tribulation rapture. They were pulled through the door, and then blindness came.

And what is the door that Lot was pulled through? It was the same Door that we will be pulled through. Do you remember the verse I cited a few minutes ago? Just prior to the tribulation, in Revelation 4, as the church age is ending, John saw a Door opened in heaven.

As he looked a voice called out to him “come up here” into the presence of the Lord – just as Lot was pulled into the presence of the Lord. What door did he see? In John chapter 10, Jesus Himself explains what the Door in Sodom’s time was, and Who the Door in the future is –

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:9, 10

The Door is Jesus, but behind the door is the Lord as well. In Genesis 19:18, after Lot was pulled to safety behind the door, it says v’yomer Lot alehem al na Adonai – “Then he said to them, no my Lord.” The word adonai means the Lord God. It indicated that not only were the two angels there, but the Lord was there as well. In type and in fulfillment, we will be snatched through the door and into the presence of the Lord – prior to the tribulation period.

II. The Transfer of Authority (Genesis 38:13-26)

13 And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. 16 Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.
So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”
17 And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”
So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”
18 Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”
So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. 21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?”
And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.”
22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.”
23 Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.”
24 And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry.”
So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”
26 So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.

The next section for you today which clearly shows the dispensenational model, and which shows us an implicit picture of a pre-tribulational rapture, is found in Genesis 38. It is the story of Judah and Tamar. It is a simple and remarkable story of the coming Christ, but it also shows us much more.

In this story, Judah is a picture of the Jewish people. Tamar is a picture of the Gentile-led church. Judah possessed the cord, staff, and signet, each which symbolizes the Person and authority of Christ. Judah however bargained this right away for the price of a harlot, something clearly seen in the spiritual harlotry of Israel when they sold off Christ at His first coming.

In agreement to the deal that was made, Tamar asked for a pledge until the payment was rendered. The word for pledge here is eravon. It indicates an earnest deposit. When the expected payment from Judah, which was a goat, was received then the earnest was to be returned.

This Hebrew word, eravon, which is used only three times in Old Testament, and all in this chapter, was later adopted by the traders of Greece and Rome. It is also used in the New Testament three times, all by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Each time he states  the eravon is our promised redemption, the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible, identical words between Hebrew and Greek are most unusual and yet this word was carried over, certainly so that we wouldn’t miss the significance of what it is showing us. Here are all three examples from the NT for you to see the connection –

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 5:5

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13, 14

Each time this word is used, it is referring to the Holy Spirit. He is the security, given in hand, for the fulfillment of every promise which relates to our salvation and hope of eternal life. All who hold the pledge, and can so produce it, will be saved from condemnation and will be granted eternal life. This is the surety we have because of our pledge; the Holy Spirit. And this is what Judah’s pledge represents.

The pledge consisted of his signet, cord, and staff representing Judah’s identity, authority, and tribe. In type, they symbolize the Person and authority of Christ. This is what Tamar asked for and what was granted to her. And this is what passed from the Jews to the Gentiles during this dispensation known as the Church Age.

By being the bearer of the Messiah, as Tamar was, and as the church now is, we share in His identity and His authority. The carrying of Christ, pictured by these implements went to Tamar. Tamar means “palm tree.” In the Bible, the palm symbolizes uprightness and righteousness, something applied to the redeemed of the church numerous times in Paul’s letters.

It is also what Lot was called as well. Are you seeing the connection? Christ! Our righteousness! So in this story we see at least a dispensational model, but how does it point to a pre-tribulation rapture? Because of where the word eravon, or pledge, is noted by Paul. Remember his words of Ephesians 1:13, 14

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

As we saw in the previous section concerning Lot, if the guarantee is given and the Holy Spirit is taken out, and yet those who are sealed with the Spirit are not, then that is not a very good guarantee. Further, in picture, Judah received the signet, cord, and staff back all at one time when it was sent to him from Tamar.

There was no contact between them then, and the account says that there was no further contact between them in the future. In other words, the two dispensations do not overlap. The church age ends, and the symbols of Christ’s authority transfer back to the Jews. It is an implicit reference to a pre-tribulation rapture which is built on by other explicit references.

III. The Flock of Jethro (Exodus 3:1)

The next account is of Jethro’s flocks which is recorded in one verse in Exodus 3:1. In order to understand the context and the picture that is being made, we have to go back to an earlier point in Moses’ life and follow the events up to the time he tends to Jethro’s flock.

Moses, whose name means “He who draws out,” is a type of Christ. This is explicitly seen in Acts 7 during Stephen’s speech to the leaders of Israel. Just as the Hebrews challenged Moses’ authority in Exodus 2, the leaders of Israel challenged Jesus’ authority during His ministry among them.

After this occurred, Moses went to Midian and there took a Gentile Bride, Zipporah. Likewise, Jesus departed His people and also has taken a Gentile bride, pictured by Moses’ marriage to Zipporah. He stayed there for a full forty years. EW Bullinger defines the meaning of forty in Scripture. Think of God’s working through the church as I read it –

It “has long been universally recognized as an important number, both on account of the frequency of its occurrence, and the uniformity of its association with a period of probation, trial, and chastisement—(not judgment, like the number 9, which stands in connection with the punishment of enemies, but the chastisement of sons, and of a covenant people). It is the product of 5 and 8, and points to the action of grace (5), leading to and ending in revival and renewal (8). This is certainly the case where forty relates to a period of evident probation. But where it relates to enlarged dominion, or to renewed or extended rule, then it does so in virtue of its factors 4 and 10, and in harmony with their signification.

In other words, the duration of the church age is perfectly summed up in the forty years that Moses spent in Midian. But there was a time for Moses to depart and go back to Egypt which is a picture of the fallen world.

When Moses goes back to Egypt, it will be to face off against a new Pharaoh. This individual is a type of the antichrist. The plagues which will come upon him, and upon Egypt, are only shadows and types of the parallel judgments which will come upon the world during the seven years of tribulation period.

In fact, they are a perfect mirror of what lies ahead, culminating in the swallowing of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, and the casting of the antichrist alive into the Lake of Fire. However, before Moses returns to Egypt, there is the issue of the church, the flock of God, which needs to be dealt with. This is seen in just one verse of Exodus 3, and which we will now analyze.

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.” Exodus 3:1

Before this verse, there were beautiful patterns of history revealed in the first two chapters of Exodus. There was the time of Israel’s rejection of Christ, just as Moses was rejected by his people. There was the Church Age after that, with the seven churches of that age being seen in the seven daughters of Reuel.

With the Church Age ending, we are seeing the time when God is getting ready to redeem Israel and bring them out of their place of hardship and bondage, leading them into the kingdom age. Matthew Henry partly clued into this pattern when he said the following –

“The years of Moses’s life are remarkably divided into three forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh’s court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun.” Matthew Henry

Israel has not been forgotten by Him, and their period of trial and testing after exile will come to an end. It is pictured in Moses’ next portion of life in which the call to that life begins to be seen now.

Christ is at this time in redemptive history our Good Shepherd, leading the flocks of the church from the Place of Judgment, pictured by Moses tending to flocks in Midian, which means exactly that – Place of Judgment. Moses is tending to the flocks, but immediately a new name is introduced – Jethro.

He is identified as Moses’ father-in-law and the priest of Midian. However, scholars debate as to whether this is the same man as Reuel or not. The term for “father-in-law” is also used to describe other marital relations, such as son-in-law, brother-in-law, etc.

Some argue that if Reuel was older when Moses married his daughter 40 years earlier, then this may be his son or nephew who has become the priest in his place. Without getting bogged down in that, what the account asks us to do is determine the meaning of his name, not really how he is now related to Moses.

Reuel means “Friend of God” and he was used to picture the corporate body of people from whom the collective church is derived. As the seven churches are the friends of God, they willingly invited Jesus into their home, just as Reuel willingly called Moses into his.

Now we have this new figure – or at least a new name, Jethro. This comes from the word yatar which means “to remain over,” or “to be at rest.” The HAW Theological Wordbook submits, “It refers to one portion of a quantity which has been divided. Generally it is the smaller part and sometimes it is the part of least quality.”

Therefore, Abarim translates the name Jethro as “remnant.” If Reuel was there to picture the time of the church age, then Jethro must be introduced for another reason. If the church age is ending and God is ready to restore Israel to its inherited place in redemptive history after the tribulation period, then this name must be tied to that.

This word yatar, from which Jethro is derived, is used in Ruth 2:18 concerning the food which Ruth had kept back for her mother-in-law Naomi. There it said, “So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.”

That was a transfer of food from a Gentile to her Jewish mother-in-law. That story, if you know its meaning, showed Naomi as picturing Israel in captivity awaiting their restoration, which came at the end of the story. This word yatar, is also used in this set of verses from Ezekiel 39 –

“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:27-29

A study on this word time and again gives hidden clues of the return of Israel to the land and to its exalted place as chief among the nations in the end times. It is fitting then that the name Jethro is introduced after Reuel.

There is the church age, Reuel, and then there is the restoration of the remnant of God’s people, Israel – pictured by Jethro. Seemingly unimportant names actually bear directly on what is about to transpire and what will continue to occur, even thousands of years later. Every detail fits like a God-manufactured glove, perfectly aligning with His redemptive plan. Let’s now analyze Exodus 3:1 –

And he led the flock to the back of the desert,

The words “to the back of the desert” are akhar ha’midbar. Akhar means “behind” or “the following part.” It is also translated as “west” and this is how some versions translate it. The second word, ha’midbar, means “the desert.”

In the Hebrew way of dividing the points of the compass, if the east is before a person, the west then is behind him. The south would then be right and the north would be to the left. The east is a place of exile. When Adam was kicked out of the garden, it was to the east that the cherub was placed to guard against entry.

When the tabernacle was erected, cherubim were woven into the veil which then pointed east, symbolizing restricted entry into the Holy of Holies. When Moses died, he was buried east of Canaan as punishment for his transgression. And when Israel was exiled to Babylon, it was east.

 (con’t) and came to Horeb,

Horeb is the same area as Sinai. The names are used to indicate the same place, but the words are selected to be used for different reasons when they are, in fact, used. Horeb means “Arid” or “Desert” which, interestingly, the same in meaning to Zion, the mountain of God, which in one sense means “Parched Place.”

(con’t) the mountain of God.

In Hebrew, it says el har ha’elohim – “to mountain ‘the’ God.” The definite article is before “God” not “mountain.” This is showing us something and it is specific and particular. It is intended to show us that the flock is being taken to a specific location to worship the One true God.

Later, in chapter 4 of Exodus, it will say that Moses returns to Jethro, but the flock isn’t mentioned. This is the first and last time it is referred to. What is that picturing? Before I explain it, I want to give the verse in Hebrew with a short commentary and translation from my Israeli friend, Sergio –

Ve-inhag et ha-tson ahar ha-midbar ve-yavo el har-ha’elohim horba – What’s interesting is that the word midbar means word/mouth – for example dbar elohim (God’s word). So the sentence could be read like this: And [he] drove the herd [of sheep] according to the words and [he] came to mountain of the God, Horeb

The dual meaning of the verse is showing us a picture of something. Abarim publications states the following concerning the roots of the word dabar –

“These two root-verbs are really quite adjacent in Hebrew thought. Note that the word מדבר (midbar) means wilderness (or desert), and the related verb דבר (dabar) means to speak. When Paul augments Isaiah’s spiritual armor, he adds the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God … Words commonly protrude from one’s mouth, and the mouth is typically a wet place, not a dry place. But it should be noted that the Meribah incident occurred at Horeb [the same place we are looking at right now – HOREB] (Exodus 17:6), “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

This may sound like way too much information, but the Hebrew is exact, and it is important. Let’s look it over. The pictures have shown that Israel is in exile and it is now the Church Age. Suddenly, with almost no information in 40 years of Moses’ life being noted, which is the church age, we come to the end of the 40 years. And now Moses is heading west with his flocks.

If east is exile and from whence comes destruction, and the flocks are being led west, then it is to a place of safety and from whence comes life. Horeb means “Arid” or “Desert,” just as Zion means “Parched Place.” It seems curious that the mountain of “the” God would be defined this way, but what is it that gives life? Water.

The word proceeds from the wet place, the mouth, and the Word of God is where the water of life issues from. Horeb is where the water from the rock came from. Paul in the New Testament says this about that account –

“…all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4

In the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Mount Zion (remember Zion means “Parched Place”), where does the water proceed from? From the throne of God and the Lamb! As Moses pictures Jesus, the prophetic explanation of this verse would translate it as, “And Christ drove the herd according to the word and came to the mountain of the God, even to Horeb.”

This one verse is clearly showing the transition from the Church Age to the time where Israel will be redeemed from Egypt, and it perfectly matches the words of 1 Thessalonians 4 concerning the end of the church age? Here is the passage –

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

This transition verse is given in type and picture to show the end of the Church Age at the rapture; at the word of the Lord. Without abusing the text, the Hebrew, or the concepts which permeate Scripture concerning Israel and the dispensational model, we can paraphrase the words, “And (Christ) drove the flock (the church) according to the word, and (they) came to the mountain of THE God, even the Parched Place, Zion.” Christ is calling us home to the Heavenly Mount Zion at the word of the Lord. We are going home!

Finally, as these events preceded the judgment on Egypt, all of which picture the seven-year tribulation period on earth described in Revelation, it is an anticipatory look from 3500 years ago into a pre-tribulation rapture. The focus on Israel does not begin until after the flock of Jethro is first secured away. Once again, a pre-tribulation rapture is seen in these ancient types and pictures./

IV. The Day of the Lord

Our final picture of a pre-tribulation rapture today comes from a pattern which runs throughout Scripture. The 66-books of the Bible actually form a perfect circle of three concentric circles. Each inner circle forms spokes, just as you would have on a wheel.

Each spoke is based on a letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet. There are 22 spokes which divide the 66 books of the Bible, and therefore, there are three books on each spoke. These spokes form marvelous patterns between the books on each spoke.

In fact, the number of patterns which runs through them is almost infinite. The 8th spoke, corresponding to the Hebrew letter khet, which has the meaning of “outside,” “divide,” etc. contains the book of Ruth, Amos, and 1 Thessalonians. A pre-tribulation rapture becomes evident in this spoke containing these books.

As I noted earlier, in Ruth there was a transfer of food from a Gentile to her Jewish mother-in-law. Naomi pictured Israel in captivity awaiting their restoration. This came at the end of the story. Before that occurred, the hero of the story, Boaz, married Ruth. In both type and picture, he prefigures Christ.

After the marriage of Boaz to Ruth in verse 13, Ruth is not mentioned again in the story. The focus goes back solely to Naomi, picturing Israel who was in captivity and is now receiving back her proper place. The child who is born to the marriage is Obed. The final clause of verse 17 says, “And they called his name Obed.”

The name the women of the city called out for this wonderful child is Obed. It is tied to the fact that he is Naomi’s son and to the fact that he is, in fact, a son. And so they call him Obed, which means “Servant.” What does his being Naomi’s son have to do with him being a servant?

This is what confounds people, but the answer comes from the account itself. Just three verses earlier, as soon as it was said that Ruth was given conception and bore a son, the women said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative, (meaning a redeemer); and may his name be famous in Israel!”

In the very next verse, it says, “…may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.” The son is the close relative, the goel, who is Naomi’s redeemer. He is the one who will be the restorer of life and the nourisher of her. He will be a servant to her and so they called him Obed.

All of this transpired after the marriage of Boaz to Ruth. It pictures Christ’s return to Israel as their Redeemer. But how does this show a pre-tribulation rapture? It does it by the position of the book of Ruth in the order of the Bible. As I said earlier, the books of Ruth, Amos, and 2 Thessalonians are all on the 8th spoke of the wheel.

Ruth ends with only four chapters. However, in both Amos 5 and 1 Thessalonians 5, the focus is on the Day of the Lord. The taking of the bride is found in both Ruth 4 and in 1 Thessalonians 4. Only after that is the Day of the Lord introduced in 1 Thessalonians 5. The pattern reveals what God has done and what He will do.

Only after the Gentile woman becomes a bride does the Day of the Lord come. And as this Day of the Lord is only after the revealing of the antichrist, and as the antichrist is revealed only after the taking out of the eravon, the guarantee, the Holy Spirit… then we can be assured of a pre-tribulation rapture.

The patterns are consistent, and they permeate Scripture. We don’t need to be confused by varying interpretations of a few New Testament verses which are twisted to suit the preferences of one choice of doctrine or another. Instead, God has shown us in Old Testament types and pictures where our proper theology stands.

This is true with every major doctrine of the Bible, including that of eschatology. Within the doctrine of eschatology, the rapture is clearly defined by these ancient types as well. Today we’ve looked at just four of them. But there are others waiting for you to see. They are put on display as an assurance of our blessed hope… the return of Christ for His church.

You see, everything points to Jesus – Old Testament and New. All people are either moving toward the Door or they are alienated from it. There is a spiritual blindness which covers the eyes of the people of the world, but when we call out to Jesus, the blindness is replaced with sight; darkness is replaced with light; condemnation is replaced with salvation; and death is replaced with life.

If our eyes are opened to Christ, we become a part of His flock and we are set on a wonderful path, heading west once again to the land of delight that was lost so long ago. There is a time of evil coming upon the whole world and when the call is made for the righteous to come home to glory, there will only be suffering and death for those left behind.

It is Jesus who holds the keys to life and death in His hands. We have a choice to make before that great day of wrath comes and I hope and pray you will make the right one before it arrives. If you have never called on Christ and asked Him to save you from this terrible time which lies ahead, let me tell you how you can do it, even today… even right now.

Closing Verse: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14